The assumption that the colours of the green poison frog, Dendrobates auratus, serve as a warning of unpalatability is not supported because the requirements of the theory of aposematism are not met. The theory predicts that the aposematic coloration be conspicuous to potential predators, yet this cannot be demonstrated. The only predator found for D. auratus was the theraphosid spider, Sericopelma rubronitens, which hunts using vibrational cues. Only after sampling all frogs offered did spiders reject the toxic D. auratus over nontoxic Physalaemus pustulosus. The spider's decision to reject D. auratus as prey was made without visual input, and therefore the colours and toxicity of the frogs are decoupled with respect to this predator. Discovering that the crab Armases angustum is a predator of D. auratus tadpoles suggests that D. auratus is most vulnerable to predation during the nontoxic tadpole stage. Indirect methods of estimating predation were unsuccessful. The use of plasticine model frogs to estimate avian predation yielded no useful information and although traumatic injury is usually attributed to attempted predation, this is not true for tropical anurans. The levels of traumatic injury for D. auratus and a cryptic nontoxic frog Physalaemus pustulosus were similar when the life span of the frogs was taken into account. The traumatic injuries in these frogs are a function of interactions with small invertebrates that are neither predator nor prey. The theory of aposematism also predicts that there should be low pattern variation within an aposematic species so that a single search image can be formed and avoided. The patterns of D. auratus are individually distinct and there is significant interpopulational variation in appearance due to differences in colour, pattern and animal size. Selection for conspicuous visual intraspecific communication may have resulted in these differences in appearance. Mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b sequence data ind

This thesis explores the notion that we may be able to more fully understand the etiology of serial murder. Specifically, it concludes that the behaviours of serial murderers can be allegorical of unresolved childhood trauma - that in the murderous actions of the adult there can be a depth of subconscious allegorical connection to the repressed (forgotten) and unresolved trauma of the murderer's own childhood. The focus for this hermeneutic inquiry is the intersection that can be constructed between the phenomenon of serial murder and the assertion of the psychoanalyst Alice Miller that every perpetrator of violence was once a child who was (himself or herself) a victim. Alice Miller's concept of Poisonous Pedagogy is explained and critiqued. Her belief that our childhoods tell the stories of our adult behaviours is questioned in light of the similar theoretical ground of Life History, Life Narrative, Psychobiography, and Psychoanalytic Narrative. Miller's contention that there are directly allegorical connections between childhood abuse and adult murderous behaviours is illustrated by her analysis of the life of Jurgen Bartsch. A hermeneutic examination of the biographic records of two other serial murderers (Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy) is then undertaken to question the available support for Miller's contentions It is concluded that there is strong support for Miller's assertions regarding the etiology of violence, and that violent adult behaviour, even serial murder, can be allegorical of unresolved childhood trauma. It is suggested that there is a need to extend this area of research through face-to-face engagement with perpetrators of violence. It is recommended that we directly engage serial murderers in personal discourses that will allow further exploration of Miller's notion that serial murderers' behaviours are allegorical echoes of harm that was done to them.

Thesis (MFA )--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2008. / Typescript. Trouble in the tropics: invasive lionfish is a DVD accompanying the thesis. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis Aig. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Armen Zakarian, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 19, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 120 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Sc. / Comparative electrophoretic studies at pH8,5 was conducted on the venom of the rinkals (Hemachatus haemachatus), Egyptian cobra (Naja haje haje) and puff-adder (Bitis arietans). The physiological effect of fresh freeze-dried venom of the rinkals was compared with that of various commercial samples of venom obtained from the same species of snake. Furthermore, the stability of dried snake venom under different conditions of storing was investigated. The electrophoretic, as well as the physiological results, indicated significant differences in the characteristics of fresh freeze-dried snake venom and the various commercial samples of venom obtained from the same species of snake. The electrophoretic results also show that freeze-dried venom, stored under the conditions described, is of somewhat unstable character and therefore the venom undergoes changes in its electrophoretic characteristics. A decline or increase of the total percentage of protein of the anodal and cathodal fractions, depending on the type of venom, was observed and is being regarded as being a function of the degeneration of the venom...

Ph.D. (Chemistry) / The Forensic Chemistry Laboratory of Johannesburg (FCL JHB) is tasked with the chemical analysis of a variety of samples to assist in determining the cause of death where unnatural cause is suspected. Some of the samples submitted to the laboratory have a herbal or muti connotation, but a large portion of these cases turn out to have no herbal components present as only pharmaceutical or agricultural products are detected in these samples. This study combined, for the first time, forensic investigation, chemistry and botany to create a unique platform needed for the identification of poisonous plants and their components in forensic exhibits and viscera. The research was focussed on the poisonous plants previously detected at the laboratory, as well as the requests received for the analysis of muti/toxic plant components. The selection of plants included Nicotiana glauca, Datura stramonium / Datura ferox, Callilepis laureola, Boophone disticha / Ammocharis coranica, Abrus precatorius, Ricinus communis, Nerium oleander / Thevetia peruviana and Bowiea volubilis. All these species are known to have caused fatalities, hence their choice. Nicotiana glauca has been implicated in the deaths of at least 15 people since 2001. It was previously detected by GC-MS (EI) in plant exhibits, but could not be detected in a viscera matrix. A selective extraction method for alkaloids was used to extract botanical and viscera samples. Anabasine was successfully detected on the HPLC-MS (EI) system but this detection technique was not considered sensitive enough. A very sensitive HPLC-MS method was developed on the ZMD detector by using electrospray technology. This method outperformed both electron impact detectors (GC and HPLC) and could detect 1ng/ml anabasine with relative ease in full scan mode. Datura stramonium and D. ferox have not been previously positively linked to any human poisoning or death due to exposure to botanically derived products at the FCL JHB. Atropine and scopolamine were successfully ionised in ESI positive mode and could be detected at 10 pg/ml and 100 pg/ml level respectively. The identities of the compounds were confirmed by characteristic ISCID fragmentation patterns. The developed method was successfully applied to a suspected heart attack case. The results proved conclusively that the deceased was given D. ferox seeds as part of his meal and an overdose of atropine and scopolamine contributed to his death...

A study of hypersensitivity of high school students to the oleoresins of fifty common North Texas plants.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Homoeopathy)-Dept of Homoeopathy, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 xiv, 154 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm / This study was conducted by administering Naja mossambica 30CH (a homoeopathic remedy derived from the venom of the Mozambican spitting cobra) to healthy individuals in order to elicit and document the resulting mental and physical symptomology. These symptoms were compared to the toxicology of Naja mossambica venom as well as a doctrine of signatures analysis of the snake in order to expand and clarify the remedy picture. Existing knowledge of the venom toxicology gives a clear indication of the organs and body systems that the substance has an affinity for. Many poisonous substances used homoeopathically rely heavily on inferences made from the toxicology of the substance, as much of the gross pathology in the symptom picture cannot safely be elucidated in a proving. The aim of this study was to determine the sphere of action of Naja mossambica by utilising symptoms obtained from the proving and from the toxicology of the venom. This was done in order to determine the remedy's usefulness in a homoeopathic clinical setting by expanding our understanding of the substance and thereby facilitating the treatment of disease based on the law of similars.